Author:Dr. Bill Nieporte

After complaining that I had "too little time" to do all the things that "needed to be done," a mentor said - "You have the same amount of time per day that everyone else has -24 hours.You don't need more time. What you need is the discipline to use the time you've got more wisely."

With this in mind, here are seven tips that have equipped me to accomplish more each day of my life.

These tips will work for you too!

1. Plan each day - The last thing you should do each evening (or the first thing you do in the morning) should be to create a "task list" for the upcoming day. Your list will help you set priorities and keep focused throughout the day. In addition to planning each day, I also suggest weekly, monthly, and yearly planning with your life's purpose statement and goals in hand.

2. Organise your life - One of life's greatest time wasters is a cluttered office or messy living space. How often have you wasted valuable time trying to find that memo, contract, your wallet, or even your car keys. Follow the old adage that says, "Everything has a place and everything should be in its place!" Get your life organised.

3. Don't be a mail pack rat! - I recently visited a friend's office and noticed several piles of mail cluttering his desk. Instead of filing, responding to, or trashing these mailings, he instead seemed to simply sort through them every few days, shifting the stacks from one place to another on his desk. Avoid this time waster and you'll accomplish more each day.

4. Utilise all available time - How? Start by taking a book with you wherever you go. When you find yourself waiting-in the doctor's office, for an appointment to commence, or for your car to be repaired, try increasing your knowledge by reading that book. In addition, while driving your car, don't waste time listening to the "fluff" that fills the airwaves. Instead listen to teaching and/or motivational tapes in your car.

5. Develop healthy habits - The body needs adequate rest, proper nutrition, and energetic exercise to fight off fatigue and extend life.Give your body what it needs and you will have the energy to accomplish much more with your life. Get an adequate night's sleep. Eat a healthy diet. Exercise regularly. Your energy level will increase and you will reap the benefit by accomplishing more each day.

6. Avoid energy stealers - Do you know people like that?Do you know individuals whose attitudes literally suck the life out of you? Then make it a practice to avoid any contact with these people that is not absolutely necessary.

7. Blow up your television - If you are not willing to part with your television completely (I'm not either!) then we should at least learn which button turns the set off - and then develop the courage to use that button (often). Spend that time playing with your children, reading a book, or spending time with your spouse.

You only have 24 hours allotted each day. Use them wisely!

To our clients that use Banklink, we have received a letter advising that on average your fees with respect to Banklink transactions will increase by 2.5% for each Banklink Bank account.

The details of the letter can be seen here.

Banklink continues to offer a simple alternative to the more complicated general ledger packages – providing ease of data entry, BAS preparation and GST reconciliations.

As always, feel free to chat to us about how you can make better use of Banklink via memorised entries/budgeting/reporting and graphs, etc.

Steve Kassulke can be contacted on 3233 6422 or Melissa Voss on 3233 6403 to assist you.

This blog does not give business, accounting, taxation or financial planning advice. It is intended to provide information in a summary form and is general in nature. The contents do not constitute business, accounting, taxation or financial planning advice and should not be relied upon as such. Formal business, accounting, taxation or financial planning advice should be sought in particular matters. O'Connells OBM Pty Ltd accepts no liability in respect of this information and any person acting solely on the information contained within does so entirely at their own risk.

From 1 January 2012, the government will lower the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) voluntary repayment bonus, applied to payments of $500 or more, from 10% to 5%.

If you make a voluntary repayment of $500 or more before 31 December 2011, or pay off your debt in full, you will receive a discount of 10%.

Voluntary repayments of $500 or more received after 31December 2011, will only attract a discount of 5%.

If you would like to make a voluntary repayment – please contact us for the relevant payment details.

This blog does not give business, accounting, taxation or financial planning advice. It is intended to provide information in a summary form and is general in nature. The contents do not constitute business, accounting, taxation or financial planning advice and should not be relied upon as such. Formal business, accounting, taxation or financial planning advice should be sought in particular matters. O'Connells OBM Pty Ltd accepts no liability in respect of this information and any person acting solely on the information contained within does so entirely at their own risk.

Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year

From all at O'Connells OBM!

Our office will close for the Christmas & New Year Period from 12pm Thursday 22 December & re-open 8.30am Monday 9 January 2012.

For urgent matters please contact Rod O'Connell.

Thank you for your support over the last 12 months

It has come to our attention that there are some fictitious emails being sent appearing as if they are from the Australian Taxation Office. Below is an example of an email that we have seen that is a fake email.Please take care with emails that you receive in regards to supplying details or going to websites. If you have any doubt, please contact our office to look into the emails.

EXAMPLE OF FRAUDULENT EMAIL:

Attention: Accounting Department

We would like to inform you that you have made mistakes while filling out the most recent tax form NAT3799 (ID: 276658040504) .
Get access to recommendations and hints from our tax specialists HERE

We prompt you to fill out and send the revised tax return to your tax agent as soon as possible.